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Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners  Sacramento State Hornets  

Game #9-058: Cal State Bakersfield at Sacramento State Hornets November 14, 2012 10:05 pm Hornets Nest BBState Stats/Recap

"Take time for all things: great haste makes great waste."- Ben Franklin

Life without a conference is not always easy. Since moving above the Black Line before the 2007-2008 season, the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners have lived up to the perceived speed of their moniker, traveling 64,483 miles, over two and a half circumnavigations of the Earth for an average of 12,896 miles traveled each of their first five seasons. 316 miles into this season, the CSUB Roadrunner bus made the trip from Berkeley's Haas Pavilion to the Hornet's Nest of Sacramento State.

Just as the actual top speed of their moniker (20 mph) is lower than expected and slower than a coyote, many opponents have forced the Roadrunners to operate at a more moderate pace than expected on the court, an average of 69.5 possessions and 66.7 points per game. While Bakersfield was coming off losses to Texas-Arlington and California, averaging 80 possessions and 62.5 points per game; Sac State would be playing their first game against a D-1 opponent, five days after a 75-possession win over UC Merced. With solid offensive threats in Sac State's Dylan Garrity and John Dickson and CSUB's Stephon Carter and outside threat Javonte Maynor, this game looked like it would be high-scoring and fast-paced.

When the halftime horn sounded at 1940 PST with the score 34-28 in favor of Sac State, those hypotheses proved valid. Though the Hornets held a six point lead, the vocal Bakersfield supporters believed the Roadrunners could pull out a victory in the second half if the rest of the team followed Javante Maynor's lead (6-10 from behind the three-point line) and made shots.

Committing to an uptempo offense, a team relies on open communication and trust in the game plan for easy baskets. However the success also relies on making those easy shots and limiting fouls. Bakersfield kept the deficit to a manageable level of eight points but committing seven fouls by the under-12 media timeout limited the potential for a comeback.

One way to mitigate an uptempo offense is a defensive press. The Hornet press was most evident after the under-12 media timeout. Roadrunner Britton Williams hit a jumper to cut the lead to six. The Roadrunners did not score again for over five minutes. Part of the drought can be explained by five possessions ending in turnovers, four due to Mikh McKinney and Jackson Carbajal steals.

After enough misses and empty possessions, players can become desperate. Desperate players tend to deviate from the game plan on both sides of play, hoping to start a comeback. If shots are mistimed or inaccurate, the deficit can widen. Each mistake and miss breeds frustration, fueling the urge to fix the problem. Sac State took advantage of that urge en route to drawing 12 more fouls. Those errors lead to 25 points from the free throw line as Sac State coasted to a 85-67 victory.

The post-game environment emulated the game itself as most of the crowd quickly shuffled into the brisk night followed by the usual downtime, as a small number of friends and family moved to the foyer to wait for players. The slower pace and smaller population allowed Hornet players to easily move through the foyer with limited interruption as they shifted their focus onto Thursday classes. Bakersfield freshman Erik Kinney used the downtime to touch base with family and friends that made the drive from Fairfield, a city roughly equidistant from both Berkeley and Sacramento. Before the Roadrunner bus departed, a couple members of the coaching staff took the opportunity to make trips to the bathroom and load up on drinks.

This game was the back end of a Northern California road trip before a 258-mile bus ride back to Bakersfield to host LMU and Westmont University. After five years of travel, Cal State Bakersfield will retire its vagabond status for a spot in the post-football WAC for all its teams next year. Until then, the Roadrunners will travel just 12,934 more miles including trips to Brookings, South Dakota, Portland, Oregon, and Edinburg, Texas. Their transition gets slightly easier with trips to Seattle and Orem, Utah to end the regular season. If the Roadrunners stick to their game plan and limit errors, their independence may end with at least one ghost bracket game.



at SACRAMENTO STATE 85, CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD 67
11/14/2012

CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD 0-3 (0-0) -- R. Smith 2-13 1-2 7; J. Maynor 8-16 0-0 23; S. Carter 5-9 2-5 12; A. Young 5-14 1-1 12; B. Barnes 3-7 0-0 6; T. White 1-5 0-0 2; Z. Lamb 3-8 0-0 6; C. Hall 1-4 0-0 2; B. Williams 1-2 0-0 2; M. Hughley 1-1 0-0 2; E. Kinney 0-0 0-0 0; J. Omogun 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-66 3-6 67.
SACRAMENTO STATE 2-0 (0-0) -- J. Eberhard 1-2 0-0 3; D. Garrity 4-6 11-12 21; M. McKinney 7-13 7-7 23; J. Dickson 6-10 2-2 15; J. Carbajal 3-12 4-4 10; K. Veteto 1-3 2-4 4; J. Quigley 3-5 3-5 9; C. Demps 0-0 0-2 0; J. Demalleville 0-0 0-0 0; J. Salley 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-51 29-36 85.

Three-point goals: CSB 8-23 (S. Carter 0-1; A. Young 1-4; T. White 0-3; J. Maynor 7-12; Z. Lamb 0-2; C. Hall 0-1), SAC 6-18 (J. Eberhard 1-2; J. Dickson 1-3; J. Carbajal 0-3; D. Garrity 2-4; M. McKinney 2-5; J. Quigley 0-1); Rebounds: CSB 27 (A. Young 9), SAC 29 (K. Veteto 6); Assists: CSB 18 (T. White 4), SAC 11 (D. Garrity 7); Total Fouls -- CSB 25, SAC 14; Fouled Out: CSB-A. Young; SAC-None.

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